REVES 2025

Launch of the research project “Relations between the transmission of fundamental techniques and initiation to creation in higher education in the puppetry arts“, which will run throughout 2025-2026. At the initiative of the Pôle International de la Marionnette, this project has been selected as part of the call for projects 2025 of the Research and Development in Higher Schools of the Performing Arts (REVES) scheme of the French Ministry of Culture.

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Since it was founded in 1987, ESNAM has offered an initial training programme that combines the transmission of fundamental technical skills (in the plastic arts for the stage, acting, manipulation, etc.) with creative work.

But what does this mean in practice? How does transmission impact creation, and vice versa? In what spaces, at what times and in what forms does creation feature in the ESNAM curriculum? How do the teachers position themselves in this respect? What are their practices?  And what are the expectations and experiences of students? How can this balance be achieved in 2025? Is the distinction between creation and transmission merely heuristic in order to support pedagogical principles/practices?

The research, co-supervised by the management of the Pôle International de la Marionnette, ESNAM’s teaching manager, Sarah Andrieu and researcher Laurette Burgholzer, will involve students and teaching artists working at ESNAM, as well as the Pedagogical Council.. It will be based on observation of teaching, interviews and documentary research. Dialogue with the project’s partners (the Performing Arts Department at the University of Strasbourg, the Institut d’Etudes Théâtrales at the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, and puppeteer training at the Hochschule für Musik und Theaterkunst (HMDK) in Stuttgart) will enable the research to be compared with other practices and broaden its scope. Ultimately, it will inform and reinforce the teaching offered at ESNAM.